سورة النحل

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Yusuf narrates from his father: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about the verse وَأَوْحَی رَبُّکَ إِلَی النَّحْلِ [And your Lord revealed to the bee]. He said: "What is meant by wahy [here] is inspiration (ilham)."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): [Sometimes] wahy means inspiration, [like] this word of Allah who says: وَ أَوْحی رَبُّکَ إِلَی النَّحْلِ أَنِ اتَّخِذی مِنَ الْجِبالِ بُیُوتاً وَ مِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَ مِمَّا یَعْرِشُونَ [And your Lord revealed to the bee saying: Make hives in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build].

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): In this verse: وَأَوْحَی رَبُّکَ إِلَی النَّحْلِ [And your Lord revealed to the bee], what is meant by wahy is inspiration. The honeybee gathers nectar from all plants and then makes honey.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated: Abdullah ibn Salam said to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Tell me, what was it that Allah revealed to — neither a jinn, nor an angel, nor a human, nor a wild beast?" He said: "O Ibn Salam! The honeybee! To which Allah revealed: أَنِ اتَّخِذِی مِنَ الْجِبالِ بُیُوتاً وَ مِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَ مِمَّا یَعْرِشُونَ [Make hives in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build]." He said: "You have spoken truly, O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)!"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): وَأَوْحَی رَبُّکَ إِلَی النَّحْلِ [And your Lord revealed to the bee]; what is meant by the bee is us, to whom [Allah] revealed: أَنِ اتَّخِذِی مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُیُوتًا [Make hives in the mountains] — He commanded us to choose Shia for ourselves from among the Arabs, وَ مِنَ الشَّجَرِ [and from the trees] — and from among the non-Arabs, وَمِمَّا یَعْرِشُونَ [and from what they build] — and from among the bondsmen and slaves. And what is meant by the drink of varying colours is our knowledge, which you make use of.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): What has the honeybee to do with wahy?! This verse was revealed concerning us. The honeybee is us, and we are the ones stationed and residing on Allah's earth by His command; the mountains are our Shia, and the trees are the believing women.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The bee (al-nahl) refers to the infallible Imams (peace be upon them); the mountains (al-jibal) means the Arabs; the trees (al-shajar) means the freed slaves; and وَ مِمَّا يَعْرِشُونَ [and in what they build] means the children and slaves who are not freed — and this same group follows Allah, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and the infallible Imams (peace be upon them). And the drinks of various colours are the different kinds of knowledge which the Imams (peace be upon them) teach to their Shia. فِیهِ شِفَاءٌ لِلنَّاسِ [in it is a healing for the people] — meaning that in this knowledge there is healing and great benefit for the people. And what is meant by "the people" (al-nas) is the Shia, and as for the rest of the people, Allah knows what they are. The Imam said: "If what the verse means were, as the people think, the honey that they eat, then whenever a sick person ate from it he would have to be cured of his illness, because Allah says: فِیهِ شِفَاءٌ لِلنَّاسِ — and there is no breaking of Allah's promise; whenever He promises, it is fulfilled. Rather, the healing is only in the knowledge of the Qur'an, just as He says: وَ نُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ ما هُوَ شِفاءٌ وَ رَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنِینَ [And We send down of the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy for the believers] (al-Isra/82). The Qur'an is a healing and a mercy for its people, and there is no doubt or uncertainty in it, and its people are the infallible Imams (peace be upon them), of whom Allah says: ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْکِتابَ الَّذِینَ اصْطَفَیْنا مِنْ عِبادِنا [Then We gave the Book as inheritance to those whom We chose from among Our servants] (Fatir/32)."

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Fudayl said: I asked Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): 'What is meant by this word of Allah where He says: وَ أَوْحی رَبُّکَ إِلَی النَّحْلِ [And your Lord revealed to the bee]?' He said: 'What is meant is the awsiya (successors) of Allah.' I said: 'What is أَنِ اتَّخِذی مِنَ الْجِبالِ بُیُوتاً [Make hives in the mountains]?' He said: 'It means Quraysh.' I said: 'What is وَ مِنَ الشَّجَرِ [And in the trees]?' He said: 'It means the Arabs.' I said: 'What is وَ مِمَّا یَعْرِشُونَ [And in what they build]?' He said: 'It means slaves and servants.'

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): وَأَوْحَی رَبُّکَ إِلَی النَّحْلِ [And your Lord revealed to the bee]; the bee means the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). أَنِ اتَّخِذِی مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُیُوتًا [Make hives in the mountains]; means marry women from Quraysh. وَ مِنَ الشَّجَرِ [And in the trees]; women from the Arabs. وَمِمَّا یَعْرِشُونَ [And in what they build]; and marry women from among the maidservants. یَخْرُجُ مِن بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ [There comes forth from within them a beverage of various colours]; what is meant is the various kinds of knowledge which are beneficial and a healing for the people.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Guard your religion and shield it with taqiyya (dissimulation), for whoever has no taqiyya has no faith [and will lose it]. Your example among the people [from whom you must practise taqiyya] is like the example of the honeybee among the other birds. If the birds knew what is in the belly of the honeybee, they would certainly eat the honeybee; likewise, if people knew what is in your breasts of love for us, the Ahl al-Bayt, they would eat you with [the wounds of] their tongues and would hurt you openly and secretly. May Allah have mercy on those men among you who are (steadfast) upon our wilaya.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Ali (peace be upon him) is the leader of Bani Hashim, and thus he was named 'Amir al-Nahl' (the leader of the bees).